A forum for The Reviews Lounge, Too community, which spotlights the excellent stories in our archives and promotes reviewing all stories without the promise of getting a review in return. Don't forget to read the rules and introduce yourself first!

First, keep in mind this is ALL very tentative and not quite fleshed out yet. The idea is that we'll have a forum-wide competition to see who can give the most quality reviews to good, quality, under-reviewed stories. Originally, the idea was that it would be ONLY stories in one of the two archives; however, I believe we're leaning towards allowing ANY quality story that would be considered under-reviewed by our standards. The point system, though not entirely determined yet, would probably allot more points to stories that you can find in our archive. To see what's already been discussed, go here - conversation starts at posts #74-#77 and restarts again at post #82.

What sort of reviews would I have to leave?

We've been discussing that you'd have to leave a quality review following some sort of set standard. (For example, we might ask you to write at least one thing that was good, one thing that could be improved, and one overall ending thought.) Jem suggested that all reviews going towards the fic must mention the RLt so as to help distinguish what reviews we want to count. (And, that way if you've read a story but just don't have time to give a good review, you don't have to feel guilty.) There would be some system for reporting your reviews - probably a thread where you can link to each story. OR A GOOGLE DOC! ♥

What's the time period?

Once again, nothing official yet, but I imagine the marathon would probably run for about 2 weeks - maybe more or less - sometime in October. Times are, of course, open for discussion.

What's in it for me?

Besides doing what we've set out to do - after all, we are the Reviews Lounge, Too, and we do advocate spreading the reviews love; if you're here, I'd assume you support that in some manner - there will be prizes. Previous discussions have mentioned the possibility of personalized stories or graphics.

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Please vote in the poll above, explaining as a reply to this post when necessary. If you have some ideas or thoughts, PLEASE share them below. We've never done anything like this, and to an extent, the RL never really did, either. We've very much open for suggestions and want to custom fit this to you all!

MODERATORS AND STAFFERS: I'd really like that we should ALL participate in this, myself included. If one of us wins, someone else can help with the prizing. Or, if anyone objects to that for fairness (is that a word?) reasons, I hereby volunteer to run this on my own, need be. (Although I still plan to review as many fics as I can.) Please share your thoughts as a participant, as well.

I don't have any "good ideas" except to say that I think this is a very novel idea. Why not instead of a Google Doc because idk what that is we just have a thread that everyone posts in and edits with links to their specific stories they've reviewed?

First I think this is a great idea, not only will it help reviews hone their skills but will give valuable feedback to lots of writters. I think Blake has the right idea with a thread that each person edit's their post, providing a lin kto the story to make it easier to for the judges to do their job. XD

I voted in the poll already, saying "No. I don't have time right now." but I thought I'd suggest that maybe depending on how popular the Review Marathon idea is, there can be more than one? (E.g. One in October or whatever, and then maybe one a few months later, etc.) Just because if there's more than one that'll give people the chance to participate in another Review Marathon if they happen to be busy the week of the one Review Marathon, not to mention that might spread more review love. Although I suppose that could make prizes messy, and it depends on how much the Review Marathon takes off in the first place.

I'd suggest that maybe depending on how popular the Review Marathon idea is, there can be more than one?

Definitely a good thought. I think you're right - if the Review Marathon isn't very popular, I don't see us doing it again. But, if people like it, I'm more than willing to hold another one in the Spring! Out of curiosity, is there a time that would work better?

though the point system sounds very familiar.

How so?

I don't know what a google doc is either.

Basically, it's this service by google where you can create a document - usually a list or spreadsheet - and anyone can edit it. They're used a lot here at my university, but I can see a definite downfall in that there could be cheating. (And I really, really doubt any of you would cheat, but it's better to be save than sorry?)

"Hogwarts Online" uses the point system. I think they came up with the idea.

That's interesting, but not entirely true. First, I actually got the idea from Cuba, as I think I mentioned to EHWIES when I first brought it up. She had the same idea for the RL and posted it on livejournal. (I'll include the link below for anyone interested!) Her idea was to have a contest where people would earn points by reviewing to win prizes. Back when I first started the RLt, I was combing though the Reviews Lounge's livejournal to see what those before me had done. The idea really jumped out at me, and I filed it away for future use when the forum got big enough. I thought about doing a Review-a-thon, if I remember correctly, before Hogwarts Online was created, and certainly before I knew about the forum's existence.

The idea of points in not really a novel one, in that anyone can think it up, and many people have. (Does that make sense? I'm not wording things the way I want to. Some ideas are easier to come to than others, and as a result, many people think of the same idea independently.) This is not meant to discredit Hogwarts Online, at all. They've found a niche here at fanfiction.net, from what I gather. (Of course, correct me if I'm wrong here. I am not a member of that forum, and I do not know the going-ons.) Cuba was in no way the first to come up with an idea, nor was she the last. I wouldn't be surprised if you could already find the idea of a reviewing marathon here on fanfiction.net. In a sense, the idea is taken from a pre-existing template; the Review-a-thon is like a game, and in many games you earn points to find the winner. If anyone has another scoring system, I'll be more than happy to hear it. To be honest, I cannot think of another feasible way to do so.

Ah, I understand. I think this is a great idea; I'd really like to join if that is alright? I think October is a good month, what with NaNo coming on. Oh and Wendy, are we able to have a NaNo topic thread? x

I don't really know how a google doc works, but if we have posts that link back to the reviews then it would make it easier to keep track of what's been reviewed (and also make sure that the numbers add up), but we can definitely use both if we want.

Also, I really like the idea of reviewing stories outside the archive, because it may help us branch out a bit. The stories in our archives are kind of constrained to Harry Potter and a few other genres, by allowing the competition to expand outside that might help make us a bit more general-friendly (if you know what I mean), and would also be a lot less, er, limiting, to those who don't necessarily hang out in the HP fandom. ;D